1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for preparing customized printed products, such as pressure-sensitive labels, business cards, business and personal stationary, personal greeting cards, and the like, wherein preselected, user-defined indicia may be provided on the printed products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for preparing a customized printed product, wherein the printed product is prepared by an end-user thereof over a quasi-public communications network, such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printed products, such as pressure-sensitive labels, business cards, business and personal stationary, personal greeting cards, and the like, are widely used by businesses and individuals alike to uniquely identify that business or individual and to convey certain information thereby. For example, a sales representative oftentimes carries a plurality of business cards having information such as the representative""s name, business address, telephone number, e-mail address, and the name of the representative""s business organization, preprinted thereon. In addition to information of the type listed above, the business card may likewise contain certain images or graphics, such as a company logo or other original artwork, preprinted thereon to uniquely identify the business or individual and to give the business card a visually-pleasing appearance.
Similarly, many businesses and individuals alike oftentimes include certain information, such as a business address, business telephone number, Internet web site xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d, and the like, as well as certain images or graphics, such as a company logo or other original artwork, preprinted on letter-quality paper which uniquely identifies the business or individual and gives any written communication made thereby a visually-pleasing appearance.
The number and variety of printed products typical of those used by many businesses for similar purposes is nearly endless. For example, promotional materials, such as advertising postcards, coupons, pressure-sensitive labels, and the like, are used by many businesses. Such promotional materials typically include various indicia preprinted thereon which are unique to that business. In most such cases, preparing and ordering the printed products is oftentimes a time-consuming process. For example, to obtain a desired quantity of customized, pre-printed products, an end-user business typically prepares a layout design of the desired printed product design (which may include original artwork, such as a company logo or the like), contacts a print shop, submits the design layout and all the necessary artwork for the print shop to prepare a draft printed product, receives the draft printed product from the print shop, revises the draft printed product and resubmits the revised draft to the print shop for final printing. The end-user must then wait for the print shop to prepare the necessary equipment, print the desired quantity of the printed product and ship the finished product to the end-user. During this process, the end-user and the print shop typically communicate with one another by telephone, facsimile or mail, oftentimes resulting to significant delays in the end-user""s obtaining the finished product.
It is desirable, then, to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products. Even further, it is desirable to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof uses a quasi-public communication network, such as the Internet, to communicate directly with a print shop, thereby providing an expedited method for preparing the customized printed products.
For example, the on-line desktop publishing service sold by Digital-Net, Inc., of Saint Paul, Minn., under the claimed trademark VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS permits an end-user thereof to connect via the Internet to the Digital-Net VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS order processing system through a hypertext link from a subscribing third-party print shop web site, prepare a customized printed product, such as a business card, using the VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS system, and submit a formatted, digital file copy of the customized printed product attached to an e-mail sent from the VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS system to the third party print shop over the Internet. The third party print shop receives the e-mail (and file attached thereto containing the digital copy of the customized printed product), prints the indicated quantity of the finished products according to the end-user""s design and ships the finished products directly to the end-user.
The end-user is connected to the Digital-Net web server computer (having the domain name www.digital-net.com) during preparation of the customized printed product; once completed, the digital file copy of the customized printed product is attached as a file to an e-mail which is sent from the Digital-Net system to the print shop web site, where the print shop processes the digital file to prepare and print the order. After the end-user is transferred from the print shop web site to the Digital-Net web server computer, it is unnecessary for the end-user to reconnect to the print shop web site. Further, the Digital-Net system does not print the finished product, but merely interjects itself between the end-user and the print shop to provide customized layout design features which assist the end-user in instructing the print shop how to lay out and print the finished printed product. As such, users may only connect to the Digital-Net system via web sites of print shops which have access to printing equipment. A print shop which does not have access to bulk printing equipment, such as, for example, a commercial photocopy kiosk, cannot offer the VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS system to its retail customers, as the VIRTUAL PRE-PRESS system will not permit an end-user retail customer to order printed products therefrom. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system and method for preparing a desired quantity of customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof connects to, communicates with and submits an order to an anonymous wholesaler print shop, directly, thereby permitting the end-user to order printed products from a retail print shop which does not have access to bulk printing equipment, such as a commercial photocopy kiosk. It is even further desirable to provide a system and method for preparing a desired quantity of customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof connects to, communicates with and submits an order to an anonymous wholesaler print shop, directly, via a subscribing retailer web site.
It is also desirable to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof uses a product design, layout and preparation system over a quasi-public communications network, such as the Internet, to prepare, in realtime, the customized printed products thereby.
It is also desirable to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof is capable of quickly recreating customized printed products which were previously designed and purchased by the end-user. It is therefore desirable to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein the system includes at least one database for storing end-user data therein.
The present invention is for a system and method for preparing customized printed products, such as pressure-sensitive labels, business cards, business and personal stationary, personal greeting cards, and the like, wherein the printed products may include preselected, user-defined indicia thereon, and wherein the printed product is prepared by an end-user thereof over a quasi-public communications network, such as the Internet.
An end-user connects to the Internet, and particularly, to the World Wide Web thereof, using conventional browser software installed locally on the end-user""s computer, and using the conventional hypertext transfer protocol (xe2x80x9chttpxe2x80x9d). Using the browser and conventional Internet addressing, the end-user connects to a subscribing commercial printed products retailer web server computer hosting a retailer web site on the World Wide Web, whereat the end-user is presented with a button to initiate preparation and ordering of customized printed products according to the various embodiments of the present invention. Upon selecting the button, the end-user""s browser is transferred from the retailer web site to an anonymous printed products wholesaler web server computer hosting a wholesaler web site on the World Wide Web. The anonymous transfer of the end-user""s computer from the retailer""s web server computer to the wholesaler""s web server computer presents the end-user with the appearance of being connected to the retailer web site at all times throughout the preparation and ordering of the customized printed products. Thus, it never appears to the end-user that the end-user""s browser has transferred from the retailer web site to the wholesaler web site.
Once connected to the wholesaler web server computer, the end-user logs in to a printed products preparation system located, operated and managed on and by the wholesaler web server computer. The preparation system includes all the necessary programs, routines, applications, applets, databases, support files and libraries necessary to function as herein described. The end-user may register a new end-user account (for example, when the end-user uses the preparation system a first time) or may access an existing end-user account (for example, when the end-user has used the preparation system previously and wishes to re-order a design previously prepared and ordered). In either case, the preparation system requests a unique user-name and password from the end-user, thereby providing secure access to the preparation system by the end-user.
After the end-user has logged in to the preparation system, the end-user is guided through a design and layout process comprising a series of conventional, interconnected screens, windows, menus, fields, text-entry boxes, and the like, which cooperate with one another to enable the end-user to define the type, design, style and layout of the customized printed product. The preparation system preferably guides the end-user through this design and layout process using hypertext markup language (xe2x80x9chtmlxe2x80x9d) in cooperation with a xe2x80x9crealtimexe2x80x9d programming language, such as the cross-platform programming language licensed by Sun Microsystems of Palo Alto, Calif., under the trademark JAVA. The end-user may select from a preselected library of text fonts and graphic images, and may upload original artwork files from the end-user""s computer to the wholesaler web server computer for the end-user""s use with the preparation system. The preparation system also prompts the end-user to indicate the destination to which the finished products should be shipped and the manner in which the end-user wishes to be billed for the cost of using the preparation system, which may include all associated printing costs.
Upon entering all desired design, layout, shipping and billing information, the end-user submits the order to the wholesaler, at which point the preparation system automatically dockets a new order on a new order queue of the retailer""s dealer account. The dealer account on which the new order is docketed corresponds to the retailer from whose web site the end-user accessed the wholesaler web server computers (and the preparation system thereby). The preparation system also sends an e-mail to the subscribing retailer web server computer, instructing the retailer to log in to the retailer""s dealer account to review the order information for all pending end-user orders. The retailer connects to the wholesaler""s web site (using conventional Internet browser software and communication means) and logs in to the retailer""s dealer account, where the retailer may review the order information (including viewing an image of the customized printed product submitted for printing by the end-user), process the billing instructions, accept the order, hold the order or cancel the order. Once the retailer accepts the order, the file containing the design and layout information is transferred internally from the wholesaler web server computer to a workflow management server computer system located in the wholesaler""s print processing plant. The order is then processed and printed by the wholesaler""s printing equipment, as managed by the workflow management server computer system.
The present invention enables an end-user to communicate directly with an anonymous wholesaler in preparing and ordering a customized printed product, thereby eliminating involvement of the retailer from the preparation of the customized printed products, while presenting an appearance to the end-user that it is the retailer, and not the wholesaler, with whom the end-user is communicating.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products. Even further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof uses a quasi-public communication network, such as the Internet, to communicate directly with a print shop, thereby providing an expedited method for preparing the customized printed products.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing a desired quantity of customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof connects to, communicates with and submits an order to an anonymous wholesaler print shop, directly, thereby permitting the end-user to order printed products from a retail print shop which does not have access to bulk printing equipment, such as a commercial photocopy kiosk. It is an even further object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing a desired quantity of customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof connects to, communicates with and submits an order to an anonymous wholesaler print shop, directly, via a subscribing retailer web site.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof uses a product design, layout and preparation system over a quasi-public communications network, such as the Internet, to prepare, in realtime, the customized printed products thereby.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein an end-user thereof is capable of quickly recreating customized printed products which were previously designed and purchased by the end-user. It is therefore desirable to provide a system and method for preparing customized printed products, wherein the system includes at least one database for storing end-user data therein.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the ensuing detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings and with reference to the appended claims.
A system for preparing customized printed products over a communications network according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a wholesaler web server computer connected to the network, the wholesaler web server computer having a printed products preparation system provided thereby, the printed products preparation system being adapted to permit an end-user operating an end-user client computer connected to the wholesaler web server computer to prepare an electronic file defining a customized printed product; at least one retailer web server computer connected to the network, the at least one retailer web server computer being adapted to anonymously transfer the end-user client computer connected thereto to the wholesaler web server computer over the network; a wholesaler workflow management server computer connected to the wholesaler web server computer, the wholesaler workflow management server having a workflow management system provided thereby, the workflow management system being adapted to receive a copy of the electronic file from the printed products preparation system and to print a predetermined quantity of the customized printed product therefrom; the wholesaler web server computer being adapted to transmit, responsive to the printed products preparation system, a notification message to the at least one retailer web server computer, the at least one retailer web server computer being adapted to receive the notification message, the at least one retailer web server computer being adapted to connect to the wholesaler web server computer to view the copy of the electronic file; and, the copy of the electronic file being transmitted from the printed products preparation system to the workflow management system upon designation of the notification message by an operator of the retailer web server computer.
A method for preparing customized printed products over a quasi-public communications network, such as the Internet, using the system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is also provided hereby and includes the steps of providing a client computer, a retailer web server computer and a wholesaler web server computer, the retailer web server being connected to the wholesaler computer over the communications network; connecting the client computer to the retailer web server computer; the retailer web server computer connecting the client computer to the wholesaler web server computer upon an end-user of the client computer selecting a predetermined link provided on the retailer web server computer; an end-user using a preparation system provided anonymously on the wholesaler web server computer to prepare a new order file having an electronic image therein, the image representing a desired customized printed product; the wholesaler web server computer transmitting a notification message to the retailer web server computer upon the end-user completing the new order file; the retailer making a designation of the new order file upon receiving the notification message, the designation including to submit, to hold or to cancel the new order file; and, the wholesaler printing a predetermined quantity of printed products according to the new order file upon receiving the designation of submit from the retailer.